Nigeria’s equities market closed positive on Tuesday, thanks to improved investor sentiments in banking bellwethers such as GUARANTY (+2.6%), ACCESS (+2.8%) and UBA (+2.5%) who were the major drivers of the market performance outcome for the day.
The All Share Index (ASI) consequently rose 0.58 percent to 35,516.21 points, just as the year to date losses declined -7.1 percent while market capitalization increased by N74.8 billion to N13.0 trillion.
In the same vein, activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 93.3 percent and 179.9 percent higher to 339.7 million units and N5.5 billion respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were HMARKINS (100 million), STANBIC (80 million) and MAYBAKER (40.1 million) while STANBIC (N3.6 billion), NESTLE (N0.4 billion) and GUARANTY (N0.2 billion) were the top traded stocks by value.
Performance across sectors was equally bullish as four of the five sectoral indices closed northwards.
The banking index was the biggest gainer, up 1.7 percent as investors rallied in GUARANTY (+2.6%), ACCESS (+2.8%) and UBA (+2.5%).
The oil & gas and consumer goods indices followed suit, rising 0.7 percent and 0.3 percent respectively following buying interest in TOTAL (+5.0%), DANGSUGAR (+3.3%), FLOURMILL (+5.1%) and PZ (+7.3%).
Similarly, the industrial goods index gained marginally, up two basis points (2bps) due to bargain hunting in PORTPAINT (+9.7%).
The insurance index was the only loser, shedding 0.2 percent as investors booked profit in LINKASSURE (-7.4%) and LAWUNION (-9.9%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 2.1x from 1.9x recorded the previous day as 33 stocks advanced against 16 stocks that declined.
The top performers were PORTPAINT (+9.7%), JAIZ (+9.6%) and CAVERTON (+9.6%) while IKEJAHOTEL (-9.9%), LAWUNION (-9.9%) and NPFMCRFBK (-9.4%) led laggards.
“We expect performance to stay upbeat in subsequent sessions as investors hunt for bargains,” said analysts at Afrinvest after the close of market on Tuesday.
